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Grand Cricket Christmas Quiz : Round 2

“He had problems with his approach to the game last year, and failed to fulfil his enormous potential. He became too involved with the off-the-field politics.”

2. Which city did Dudley Carew (in a survey of county cricket between the wars) describe in the following terms? (He didn’t think much of their ground either.)

“Shoddiness and pretence, mental and moral, permeate the place. All the faults of which foreigners … accuse us seem concentrated in the few square miles of England ….. pollutes. Hypocrisy, joylessness, interference, lack of all response to any values not to be assessed in terms of money – the list of …..’s shortcomings is black indeed.”

3. Whose wife? She was known as one of first women in London to sport a monocle. Her husband often played in thick glasses which he had no medical need for, gave his name to a best-selling brand of Scotch whiskey in Spain, and was the author of a lyric entitled “Reckless Reggie of the Regent Palace”. He was often described as “the best Captain England never had”.

4. Only one of the following nicknames was intended ironically. But which one?

a) G.A.T. “Tubby” Vials (Northamptonshire)

b) C.E. “Noisy” de Trafford (Leicestershire)

c) “Happy” Jack Ulyett (Yorkshire and England).

5. W.G. Grace’s Mother, Martha, rather irresponsibly (considering the possible effect on the future of English cricket) took to the skies in the 1820s and, according to some accounts, tried to fly across the Cheddar Gorge. But how?

a) A primitive rocket?

b) A chair held aloft by giant kites?

c) A catapult?

6. Which cricketer has a memorial garden dedicated to him in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral?

7. This was how the Daily Telegraph reacted to the selection of a foreign-born player for a Test against Australia.

“When it was first announced that he was among the thirteen, there was considerable adverse comment, but it was generally expected that the selectors would become acquainted with public opinion, and decide to omit him. The remarks when he was chosen in preference to the English-born … and … were very scathing. It is a fact that if England wins with the aid of … a considerable amount of gilt will be off the gingerbread.”

But who was he?

8. According to Fred Trueman, why did Chairman of Selectors R.W.V. Robins instruct the Umpires not to no-ball Charlie Griffith for throwing in 1963?

a) He thought his action was fair?

b) He thought chucking made the game “more interesting”?

c) He was worried about sparking off “a race riot”?

9. What did Mordecai Sherwin of Nottinghamshire do in 1888 and Ewart Astill of Leicestershire in 1935 which no-one else had done in the intervening years?

10. The usual explanation of Arthur “Ticker” Mitchell’s nickname is that he used to mutter to himself continuously on the field. But in a late interview he offered another explanation. What was it?

a) He had a big heart?

b) He always seemed about to go off like a time bomb?

c) He’d picked up a liking for chicken tikka on a tour of India?

11. Rosa Cadiz (a Spanish lady) was the mother of which great Panjandrum of English cricket?

Delighted you’re enjoying it! I don’t know a great deal about her, except that she was previously Miss Ruth Clapham, daughter of a Manchester jeweller and silversmith, before marrying Percy Fender (the Captain of Surrey) whom she met in Monte Carlo. She was “frequently pictured in society magazines because she was one of the few women to wear a monocle”, though apparently this “was not a fashion gimmick, but, in layman’s language, it served to prop open a lazy eyelid”. A silver lining to every dark cloud, I suppose.

Congratulations, Chris. A very creditable 3 there, which just goes to show what can be achieved by the good old British have-a-go spirit.

1. James Whitaker
2. Yes, Birmingham – where else?
3. Percy Fender
4. Actually b). C.E. de Trafford was a very quiet man. Jack Ulyett was often conspicuously happy, because, like most of that pre-Hawke Yorkshire side, he was usually drunk.
5. Yes, b). Her father invented the vehicle, which he named the “charvolant”
6. Lord Harris.
7. Gubby Allen, who was born and brought up in Australia.
8. Right again.
9. They were officially appointed as Captains of their Counties while being professionals.
10. c) (ahead of his time).
11. Plum Warner.